Ricky Skerritt Unplugged

Fri, Apr 4, '03

Did Chanderpaul and Drakes get specific instructions in the do-or-die World Cup match against Sri Lanka? What went wrong with the Harper/Skerritt/Dujon triumvirate? Should a non-national coach the West Indies team?

In his first public comments since the World Cup, returning team manager Ricky Skerritt raps with CaribbeanCricket.com editor-in-chief Ryan Naraine about his topsy-turvy three-year stint and all the controversies along the way...

Q: Going back to 2000, when you were appointed along with Harper and Dujon, the plan was to have a three-man management team with an assistant coach. What went wrong and why did Dujon suddenly disappear without even an announcement from the WICB?

In 2000 I was never made aware of any plan for an organisational structure nor did we have any team policies and procedures etc. We were, in effect, thrown together as a management team and told to provide management.

My understanding is that the position of assistant coach had not even been envisaged by the Board prior to the time of our appointment. I know of several coaches who have said they would have applied for the assistant-coach position at that time if they had known that such a position was available. This is pertinent in the context that an individual might be a good assistant-coach but not necessarily a good head-coach and vice versa.

After the Australian tour the WICB transferred Dujon to a development coaching position where it was felt he could be more effective in the long term. As far as I know he is still employed in that position. I have never been given the authority to recruit, transfer or dismiss personnel.

The latest news is that the board will again have an assistant coach to work alongside Bennett King (if they work out the contractual issues). Your thoughts? If it didn't work with Harper/Dujon, do you think it can work now?

I do have some concerns. However the difference here is that both the Coach and his Assistant will be clear, well in advance, of organisational structure, job descriptions and other related expectations. I also get the impression that Mr. King will be knowingly helping to develop Gus Logie as the future head coach. The result is that there should be little or no surprises.

There is a strong sentiment around the Caribbean that the choice of Bennett King is a slap in the face of West Indian/local coaches. What're your thoughts on a "foreigner" taking on the job of West Indies head coach?

In an ideal West Indies cricket environment all employees of the WICB would be the best technically qualified persons who are resident within the region and who understand the emotions and passions of our West Indies cricket legacy.

A decision to hire a non-resident as Head Coach is a powerful indicator of our lack of meaningful investment in coaching development in the past. Coaches capable of operating at this level are not made overnight. I think the WICB has now made a bold step, and fortunately has found an individual who seems to be very capable of integrating into our cricket culture while helping to reshape it for the future. I hope we can work together to achieve this before I leave.

We have read extensively about your disagreements with Harper over coaching techniques and strategies (Tim Hector even published portions of your e-mail exchanges). How would you characterise your relationship with the coach over the three years? And, did that relationship improve towards the end?

The relationship between Roger and myself grew over the years to become a friendship that I cherish. As can be expected it took a little time for us to learn and understand each other. I believe that the net result of our working relationship has been positive.

Harper, in all his press statements, was very high on the use of statistics in the decision-making process. It seemed this was something you disagreed with?

I cannot recall having a disagreement with Roger for his use of statistics. On the contrary I would have been concerned if he was not using statistics. We are still a good distance behind our top competitors in the way we use statistics and data analysis in our decision-making. Roger did a good job of helping us to narrow the gap but there is still much to be done.

What is the role of the team manager, beyond the administrative duties of paying hotel bills and acting as a conduit with the media? I'm sure there's much more to what you do. Can you spell out those responsibilities?

The media and finance related responsibilities of the management role are very serious aspects of the job which can be quite time consuming. For example, the average size of a media conference in India is over 50 journalists, including several TV cameras. However the role of manager is much broader than that. It relates mostly to the requirements for effective communication, human resource management and logistics planning in different geographical and cultural areas of the world.

Because we do not have a full time Physical Therapist, much of my time has also been spent on the coordination of matters related to injury management. The effective delivery to sponsors of players rights is also a significant role of the manager. One of the more delicate roles involves the ongoing support provided to the captain in carrying out his off-field responsibilities.

Your tenure has been topsy-turvy, to put it mildly. In 2001, you were asked to resign, a decision that was overruled by the WICB directors. How would you describe your relationship, since then, with the folks in Antigua?

I believe I have done what was necessary to keep communication channels open and I am optimistic about the future.

I want to get your take on the ICC Trophy episode when Lara took ill. You mentioned "Hepatitis" as the probable diagnosis, something that angered Lara because of issues related to privacy invasion . Did that whole episode put a strain on your relationship with Lara? Is that something you regret?

The ICC release quoted me as saying that Lara had been hospitalised with "suspected Hepatitis". I had said this to the ICC representative based on what I had been actually told by the doctor. Because of the circumstances of the match, and my inexperience, I had begun to handle a personal medical situation in the same way that I usually handled a cricket-related injury.

Brian was understandably upset and told me so later that evening. It brought out an unprecedented issue of whether a performing player's reason for hospitalisation during a match is private or public. On reflection I admitted that I had made an error of judgement in this situation and apologised to Brian the same night. It was a learning experience for me. The relationship between Brian and myself continues to grow.

Your management team sent Dillon home for refusing to practice, a punishment that was subsequently overturned. Then, we had the Marlon Samuels issue, when he was dismissed from the tour of India, another decision that the board overruled because of a misunderstanding over the application of the rules. In retrospect, was that episode handled properly? Was there a sense from you that the WICB was hurting your efforts to be tough on indiscipline?

I honestly don't believe that the WICB at any time was against any of my attempts to be tough on indiscipline.

However, the perception of the WICB trying to micro manage the squad from a distance is an awkward ongoing situation that needs to be addressed in its entirety by all concerned.

Let's talk a bit about (in)discipline in the senior side. Harper spoke about insularity being the biggest "monster" in West Indies cricket, even hinting that inter-island rivalries had seeped into team. We've heard about cliques forming on tour and during that Indian tour, Sir Viv and Hooper were constantly quoted talking about "indiscipline." How much of a problem is that with this group?

None of these issues are new. When I joined in 2000, I did a needs assessment which identified some of these issues as being at crisis level. Team spirit and confidence at that time was at an all time low and indiscipline was rampant.

Our team spirit has grown significantly since and continues to get better as the team composition stabilises. However towards the end of the World Cup we saw some negative attitudes unveiled in a few individuals which have given us cause for alarm.

I want to revisit the World Cup...After the big opening win against South Africa, what went wrong? Did overconfidence seep in? What exactly happened?

Three years ago one of our biggest problems was poor confidence. Now we find ourselves having to guard against over-confidence. Unfortunately I believe it did get through our guard for the New Zealand match. However in both matches that we lost, our fielding errors came back to haunt us. Our inconsistency in the field still must be a big concern today.

However, although we should not have lost against either new Zealand or Sri Lanka, we were unlucky to drop two points because of rain against Bangladesh, the weakest team in the tournament. In the final analysis those two points would have carried us into the super six round.

Harper confirmed a report that Lara stormed out of a net session because he was upset at the quality of bowlers available during practice? Isn't that a major indictment of the tour management that proper bowlers aren't provided during the most prestigious ODI tournament? Can you explain what really went wrong there?

This incident was first brought to my attention by the media 10 days after it occured. By then it had been blown out of proportion. The coach had not considered it serious enough to report it to me and told me so when I investigated the matter.

Brian had overreacted to a situation but at no time had it compromised his relationship with the coach. Net bowlers are provided by local cricket authorities at the request of management. The manager communicates the number and the types of bowlers required and also pays for the services when necessary, but cannot guarantee the quality or numbers that will be made available by local authorities.

In that crucial game with Sri Lanka, after it was known that Sarwan would return and bat, was that message relayed to Chanderpaul and Drakes and were they given specific instructions? If not, why not? How much of a painful disappointment was that loss, especially after Sri Lanka had been reduced to a 'gettable' total?

The loss was extremely painful and hurt our team significantly by bringing out the frustrations in some of us. It was not easy to recover our team spirit for the last match against Kenya and the fact that we did so is testimony to how much this team has improved over the past few years.

The matter of whether or not tactical instructions were communicated to the batsmen has been investigated. Regrettably I have discovered that the coach's instructions were not clearly received by the batsmen. This is something that should never be allowed to happen again.

What're you most proud of since taking over as manager? Is there a single moment or thing that stands out as the highlight of the three-year term?

There is no single moment or highlight. However I am proud of the fact that we are regaining respect in the outside world from administrators, fans, media and competing players. Hopefully we can soon do so in the Caribbean region as well.

And the lowlight? Is there one thing that happened that you wish you could go back and change?

The lowlight for me was the unfortunate decision of the former CEO and President to terminate my services after one year. It brought to a head the issue of the impact of cricket politics and micro management by the Board on the operations of the West Indies team.

I would like to change the low level of trust, that still exists to a lesser extent, between the Board and our squad.